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Music is frequently called the ‘universal language’, but I don’t think it is universal at all. Certainly there is a foundation of physics and shared physiology amongst the human family that results in our music having common elements. We all hear in approximately the same frequency range of sounds. (Some species of hummingbirds, on the other hand, sing their songs in an ultrasonic range too high for humans to hear.) (more ↠)
Last Sunday the topic of suicide came up — something my family has experienced first hand. In some variants of Christianity suicide is an ’unforgiveable sin’ — one that even God can’t forgive. (Really?) Nevermind considerations of mental illness or duress so severe the person wasn’t capable of a reasoned choice. But beyond that — what about the soldier in war who throws himself onto a grenade to save his comrades — is that ’suicide’? Or better: how about Jesus Himself, KNOWING He would be killed if he went to Jerusalem, yet He went anyway — how isn’t that suicide in slow motion? And yet that Act on His part is the cornerstone of Christianity. Clearly a simple dogma like "all suicide is unforgiveable" isn’t nearly nuanced enough to account for the messiness of Real Life.(more ↠)
Of J.S. Bach’s 20 children, six survived to adulthood and four became noteworthy composers in their own right. Wilhelm Friedmann Bach was J.S.’s eldest son. His musical instruction was primarily from his father — who wrote for him, when he was ten, the charming "Little Keyboard Book for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach" which includes an early version of J.S.'s famous "Prelude in C", later expanded into the form we know today. He also studied the violin. When he was 9 his mother died. (When daddy J.S. was 9, both his parents died. A strange and sad coincidence...) Dad remarried a couple years later. (more ↠)
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